On Tuesday, thousands of Triangle public school students stayed home from school as news spread of federal immigration enforcement in Durham and Wake counties.
A Durham high school teacher told INDY that of the 24 students in her English as a second language class, only six showed up on Tuesday. Of the Latino students in the class, “only one came in today,” she said. “And he was sick to his stomach because his mom works in Raleigh and he hasn’t heard from her all day.”
Social media saw a frenzy of rumors—some confirmed, some not—of federal agent sightings. Local school districts have not confirmed any agents appearing on school grounds (officials from Maureen Joy Charter School in Durham and Athens Drive High School in Raleigh told INDY that rumors about agents inside the building were not true).
Trump’s Department of Homeland Security previously said it does not intend to raid schools, but in January, the administration rescinded a policy that discouraged ICE agents from carrying out enforcement activities in “sensitive locations’ like courthouses, hospitals and schools.
Families who kept their kids home on Tuesday were worried about showing up for pickup, dropoff, or even sending their students to the school bus stop. That fear is not unfounded—in 2016, a Riverside High School senior was detained by ICE while getting ready for school.
A spokesperson for Durham Public Schools (DPS) told INDY that 20.9 percent of students missed school on Tuesday, but could not yet provide data from other days for comparison. About 30,000 students attend Durham Public Schools.
Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) spokesperson Lisa Luten told INDY in an email that there was no immigration activity or arrests on any school campus reported on Tuesday. But 19,000 students or about 10 percent of the student population was absent—that’s about 7,000 more absences than a normal school day. (WCPSS is the state’s biggest district with more than 161,000 students.)
Across Wake County’s Title I schools—where Hispanic students are overrepresented compared to the district at-large—the absence rate was about 18 percent, according to INDY’s analysis of data provided by Luten. At Hodge Road Elementary, a dual language immersion school in Knightdale that serves a mix of native English and Spanish speakers, 167 out of 562 students stayed home on Tuesday—a 30 percent absence rate.
State senator Sophia Chitlik said on Tuesday that some Durham schools saw absentee rates as high as 30 percent, and Durham County Commissioner Mike Lee, who drives a DPS school bus, wrote on Facebook that only about 20 of his 54 usual elementary school passengers showed up. Lee wrote on Facebook that the absences were “heartbreaking.”
“What kind of person celebrates elementary-aged kids being afraid to just live their lives?” Lee wrote.
On Wednesday, in a bid to make families feel safer, Durham Public Schools Strong and Durham for All organized community members to form “care and protection teams” around local schools during dropoff and pickup. Volunteers gathered in front of schools to hold signs, welcome students, and keep an eye out for federal agents.
According to a map of volunteer-confirmed CBP sightings maintained by Siembra NC, Orange County has not had any immigration enforcement operations this week. Still, a spokesperson for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools told INDY that about 8 percent of students stayed home on Tuesday. That’s several hundred students more than recent comparable days, during which only about 5 percent of students were absent.
School officials have urged families to remain calm. DPS superintendent Anthony Lewis, at a meeting on Wednesday, said that the district would work with families to help mitigate penalties for absent students. At a Tuesday evening school board meeting, WCPSS superintendent Robert Taylor said the district does not ask for or record information about any student or family’s immigration status (the same is true for DPS.) Taylor said that if immigration enforcement agents try to enter a school building, the district will consult with its legal counsel.
“Our primary and non-negotiable mission is to provide a safe, welcoming and inclusive learning environment for every child regardless of their background or citizenship status.” Taylor said, citing the Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe, which guarantees the right to a public education for all children regardless of their immigration status. “Above all, we want our families to know that the safety, privacy, and right to a sound education is guaranteed in this district for every student. And we will do everything in our power to ensure that remains the case.”
It’s not clear how long Border Patrol will be active in the Triangle, or when school attendance may bounce back.
Reach Reporter Chase Pellegrini de Paur at [email protected].
Chloe Courtney Bohl is a Report for America corps member. Follow her on Bluesky or reach her at [email protected].
Comment on this story at [email protected].